The rock world is littered with bands that won major talent contests only to vanish from the scene as quickly as they came.

Not so Chicago’s The Last Vegas. They snagged top spot in the 2008 Guitar Center’s On Stage contest and won the right to open up for Motley Crue, beating out 8,000 other contestants.

But good things continued to happen for TLV. Later in 2008, they were picked by Spin Magazine as Best New Discovery at South By Southwest (SXSW), the prestigious music festival in Austin, Texas.

An album produced by Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx, Whatever Gets You Off, resumed the TLV assault. Following tours with the Crue, Guns ‘N Roses, The Cult and Alice Cooper, among others, TLV has established itself in a crowded heavy metal field.

Drummer Nate Arling, who formed the band with his brother Adam nearly a decade ago, thinks TLV’s clever blend of several kinds of hard rock sets them apart.

“We’ve got bits of heavy metal, garage, punk and some glam thrown into the mix,” he said.

TLV grew out of the streets of Chicago, where blues is the reigning champ.

“Blues is a huge influence on us, just as it is on rock ‘n’ roll in general,” Arling said. “Some of the vocals on the new record were done at the old Chess Records building.”

The building is run by Willie Dixon’s family and is called Blues Heaven, 2120 S. Michigan Ave. The recording studio was renovated to look like it did when the likes of Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters recorded there.

The Rolling Stones immortalized the building in an instrumental, 2120 South Michigan Ave.

“The acoustics are amazing,” Arling said. “It was an honour just being allowed in there to record.”

The drummer in Arling was drawn to rock’s heavy hitters — The Who’s Keith Moon, Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham and Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward. But his favourite is Cheap Trick’s Bun E. Carlos.

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